Chương 670: The Heroine’s Pain

Luke had made camp in the forest near Serena's encampment. They had pulled away and settled in an area filled with ruined stone houses. The fire was already lit. It had been a few hours since they left the island of snow behind. Vampire Hunters from the Church of the Dawn had arrived in force, their army pouring in from every direction. They had gotten word from other hunters that the Count was in that area and wounded from his last battle. The timing was suspiciously convenient.

The Count had been hunting Jonathan with his army at the exact same time the Church's army was hunting him. There was no doubt left that the vampire the Count wanted to find was Jonathan. That bastard became a vampire. But at the same time, the Count said he was the only vampire of the Laziurus bloodline in this universe. So how did Jonathan become one if it should have taken another vampire to turn him?

Luke had wanted to kill him, but with Lucien, Curtis, and the lich to deal with at that moment, and Charlie on his mind the whole time, Jonathan had dropped to the bottom of the list. Serena showing up had been strange too, though that part at least had an explanation. She had been at the Vampire Hunter settlement and went to the snowy island after hearing Eleanor was heading into Lucien Rhiannon's territory. The Flame Hero was with the Church of the Dawn.

The timing of all of this turned it into one massive collision. None of it was coincidence. From the sound of it, the Count already knew the lich's location, and the Church had been following the Count's trail. Naturally, Luke was keeping Charlie away from the Vampire Hunters for now. The last few hours had been spent trying to make sense of the fact that he had found Jonathan traveling with a member of the Reaper Court and meeting with Lucien Rhiannon.

"My biggest question right now is how you found Angie," Luke said. He was sitting by the fire with Erza Grimhart. She had arrived with a group of soldiers loyal to her. Anne had reunited with her sister and was visibly happy.

"Would you... like... more food?" the doll maid asked.

"Thank you, sister, but no. You served me plenty, as always. I admit, I missed your cooking," Erza said. Anne looked absurdly pleased by that. From the rooftops of the ruined houses, Luke could see Erza's soldiers watching the surrounding area. Charlie was farther off with Angie, hunting beasts, though still close enough for Luke to see through Charlie's eyes using [Soul Infiltration]. Eleanor and Evangeline were over at Serena's camp.

"So," Luke said, "how did you find Angie?"

"Actually, she found me while I was on my mission to kill Julian. I thought it was incredibly strange that the woman who had led Haven, the same woman you killed, suddenly showed up alive. At first I thought she was some kind of trap Julian had made. But she said my name, asked about you, and asked about your Charlie. Julian couldn't have known that. Which tells me you have more secrets than I realized. Then again, who doesn't?" Erza kept talking.

From that point on, Angie had worked alongside her to help find Luke again. She knows something is wrong. She knows this is not the real Angelica.

"She was extremely useful. Powerful, able to fly with some wing-creating magic, and very pragmatic. She kills whoever she needs to and doesn't ask questions," Erza said.

"Angie caught my attention. I was impressed enough that I offered her a place serving my family. She refused." To most people, Angie was just a woman who could make wings with magic. But Erza was one of the few from the tutorial who had seen the archangel up close and therefore knew angels had once existed, or at least that such beings had existed at all. Luke had told Eleanor and Evangeline what Angie really was, but with Erza, he decided against it.

She might have had suspicions, but there was still too much that did not fit together for her to connect the pieces.

"I am curious where exactly you managed to hide someone like her during the entire tutorial. A soldier that capable and that loyal," Erza said.

"And you? Did you manage to kill Julian Grimhart?" Luke turned the focus back onto her.

"No..." When he was done talking with Erza, he walked off through the ruins.

"I'm leaving," Luke said without turning around. No one answered.

"And I don't want to be followed." A moment later, a woman dropped down from a branch. She wore an assassin's outfit.

"You really did keep Lady Anne safe," she said. Luke had met her in the Citadel shortly after Erza left Anne in his care. She was one of the Grimhart family's servants.

"And you found Erza. Good work." She drew a dagger and leaned against a tree, studying the blade. It bore the Grimhart family crest.

"Why did you reject Lady Erza's offer to join her kingdom?"

"And you were listening to your lady's conversation?"

"No. But she told me she intended to invite you again."

"I turned her down because I'm going to follow my own path." She started walking toward the taller brush.

"Either way, thank you for protecting Princess Anne. My name is Joanna." The woman had returned to keep watch over Erza's camp, and Luke climbed to the top of a ruined structure. With his special eye, he could see Serena's camp and the hunters from far away. The Flame Hero and Serena have been in that tent talking for a while now. After Azazel's warning about heroes, Luke knew he had to stay on guard around any of them. The whole hero-versus-demon-lord cliché is real. He left the area and ran through the forest.

Charlie and Angie were hiding inside a ruined building, in their own little camp.

"It's me," he said.

"Though you already knew that."

"And how did it go, Master Luke?"

"First I need to know if you managed to refill your Blood Core, Charlie."

"I did, Master Luke. It's completely full now, and all the damage to my body has regenerated." Now it was only a matter of time before her HP recovered too. As long as Charlie kept her Blood Core above fifty Blood Energy, her natural HP regeneration would not be impaired. Luke looked at Angie and stepped toward her.

"I watched the area closely while Charlie was hunting. No one saw her." But Luke did not answer right away. He pulled Angie into a hug. For a moment she seemed surprised, then she hugged him back, hard.

"I missed you, my friend," he said.

"And I missed you too, my lord."

"My lord, huh? You still have that habit. You can always just call me Luke."

"I will never stop addressing you that way."

"Then tell me. What happened to you over the last seven months?" So Angie told him everything from her side. On October 31st, Luke's birthday, she had been in the New World, focused on leveling, when the event began. She started by telling him about her first nights on the island.

"And what happened on your island?" he asked.

"I beat everything. I killed the Island Guardian, and all the other participants too."

"You killed everyone? Your island was a battle royale?" Charlie asked.

"No. But... it took me a little while to recover mentally." Recover mentally?

"At first, my lord, I could no longer feel my connection to you. I thought you might have... died," she said, hesitating slightly.

"So I made a decision. If my lord no longer existed, then there would be no reason for anyone else to live either." If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That caught him off guard.

"But I recovered soon after the first night passed, when the System explained the challenge more clearly. The objective on my island was simply to survive. But people formed groups, they started killing each other, and I realized there was little point in holding myself back. So I began hunting everyone."

"Then why did it take so long to find me?"

"I was very far away. Near the edge of the volcano, close to the Abyssal Zone," she said. With Angie explaining the location, several things finally clicked for Luke. She went on, describing what the place had been like.

"All this ocean around us sits inside the mouth of the volcano. Like it's a level above the real sea. The true sea lies lower down, along the edge of the volcano. It's as if we were standing on top of Everest and the whole world had flooded." Angie explained that it had been far out at sea. The only reason she had been able to move so efficiently was because of the Beacons.

"And you cleared some of them?"

"All of them up to this point. I found the first one by luck after coming out of a Halo. After that, I had to race against time to clear the second." Then she explained that the third had been the easiest of all for her. Angie had flown over the labyrinthine city inside the walls and headed straight for a Beacon. After that, she found Erza, and then they began searching for him.

"When I activated the first Beacon, I used its locator to find you, but we kept missing each other. There were times when you disappeared."

"That was probably when I was inside a Beacon dimension." Charlie stepped closer.

"You cleared three Beacons too, just like us. We can still clear the rest together." She tightened her grip on the spear.

"I'll be useful. I promise I'll make up for all the time I was away."

"I admire the dedication," Luke said, looking at the spear, "but I'm curious about something. Did your Spirit Tool really speak during the fight?" Angie spun the spear and held it out with both hands, almost as if presenting it to him.

"Ard, introduce yourself." The spear trembled for a moment.

"Greetings, master of my mistress. I shall serve you on your journey to build your kingdom alongside my mistress. We will devote ourselves to exterminating all who stand in your way." The Spirit Tool really had spoken.

"That's interesting, Angie. You achieved something that usually takes a very long time." Not even Luke had reached that level of bond with his own weapon yet. Angie looked pleased. This talent Angie has for mastering her spiritual weapon must have something to do with her Angel Eye skill. In the past, when Luke returned from his training with Artemis, Angie had shown him some of the cleric skills she had unlocked, along with a level 60 angel skill. A power that might explain the origin of her Eye of Sariel.

[Eyes of Uriel (Unique)]: In the beginning, you were there. A beautiful angel, watching over and guarding the unknown as the first worlds took their steps toward true freedom. After witnessing countless civilizations be born, grow, and change, your understanding of existence surpassed mortal limits, awakening the spark of your divinity through an incomparable intelligence. The stars had always drawn your attention, especially the Moon.

There was something about it that kept pulling your gaze back, even though you could not understand why. Until, one day, the call was finally answered. Blessing: [Wisdom of Uriel]: Anything you truly wish to understand can be reached. The Eyes of Uriel grant a wisdom whose depth is difficult to measure, allowing you to learn with extreme speed, absorb complex knowledge, and develop your understanding at a frightening pace. Few things remain incomprehensible before that gaze. However, knowledge alone is not enough.

To reach true understanding, willpower and curiosity must walk together.

"And that red fire?" Charlie asked.

"It was vampire fire, the kind that Count used." Luke had been wondering the same thing.

"This fire?" Angie raised the spear, and its tip ignited with red flame.

"I see now," Luke said.

"That's one of your Spirit Tool's skills."

"Yes, my lord. My weapon's power is similar to radiation. If it is exposed to an energy source, an element, or anything like that, it can store that energy within itself. Then it can generate that energy through the shaft and strengthen my attacks with it."

"That's why during the fight, I saw you pierce the red fire itself instead of the vampire," Luke said, analyzing it.

"That's very interesting." Angie explained that her weapon had reached Rank E and unlocked more skills because of it. My weapon is still Rank F, and all it unlocked was Blood Repair. Every Spirit Tool had its own set of powers.

"Now tell me about your new skills," Luke said.

"Especially the Lightning Clone."

Serena paced inside her tent. Part of the Church's Vampire Hunter army had split off under the command of its Vicars. The Bishop was with them. They had gone after the wounded Count who had fled.

"Tobias was there. That bastard was actually there." She had found him by accident, but she had found him. And in the end, she still could not do anything.

"Damn Lucien," she muttered.

"There's nothing we can do, Serena," Maxwell said.

"We have to report this." She could not simply overrule a noble of the world government. But what he had done was serious. He had shielded a wanted criminal, one classified as a global threat.

"And report it to whom, Serena? The most important leaders in our governments are scattered across this ocean planet. And when we get back to Earth, it won't even be the same planet anymore. No one knows what the new Earth will look like after merging with those worlds we saw in space before the event." Serena dropped into a chair, frustrated, trying to force down the anger boiling inside her.

"Besides, that man was right. He's a Rhiannon noble. The only law he obeys is whatever his queen says."

"But Tobias is a wanted criminal. A man who abandoned his humanity and became a lich. Do you know how many lives he's already taken, and how many more he could take in the future?"

"It's very likely, Serena, that on the New Earth, the Reaper Court you worry so much about will be just one more shark in the tank. There will be other worlds, entire societies that understood the System better than we ever did," Maxwell said. It infuriated her to let a Reaper Court member walk away, but Maxwell was right. Serena tried to steady herself, tried to let the anger drain out, but a vicious migraine was starting to pound behind her eyes. That was what happened whenever she was near Luke Moon.

"But I'll admit, we made progress," the Flame Hero said.

"We wounded that Count again. And I think that injury you gave him is going to keep him off the battlefield for a while." He paused.

"Still, I'm curious about something, Serena."

"What?"

"The first time we fought that Count, your sword never shone like it did this time. And I got the impression you were stronger too." That much was true. Her sword had never blazed that brightly before, and even though Serena's power should have been reduced at night, the boost her blade received had outweighed the debuff. There was a reason for that. Luke Moon's presence.

"I didn't even notice," she said.

"You didn't notice? Come on. You're the only hero with that danger sense. The most unusual one out of all of us. You definitely noticed something," Maxwell said.

"If I get the occasional headache from certain people, then for you it must feel like someone's driving a nail into your skull."

"It does feel like that..." she muttered before she could stop herself.

"So it was the Reaper Court guy, wasn't it?" Maxwell asked.

"Yes," she lied.

"Now I get why you want to go after him. You want the bonus, don't you?"

"No. It's purely about duty." Every hero knew one thing the moment they received their class. If they killed an enemy who truly represented danger, they would be rewarded with greater power. But not just any enemy. Only those with the potential to bring large-scale harm to others counted.

Back on Earth, when Serena had met and spoken with other heroes, she confirmed that none of them knew exactly which enemies qualified for unlocking one of the seven powers of the Hero's Pillars, the special gift tied to the hero class.

"There's nothing wrong with also wanting to see what happens when you unlock one of your Pillars," Maxwell said.

"I'm not thinking about that." Serena pressed a hand to her forehead for a moment as the migraine worsened. It was not something physical, not something that could be healed. It was that cursed danger-sense of hers, screaming every time Luke Moon took so much as a step in her direction anywhere inside her camp.

"I remember something you told me once, Serena. Before the event. When you gathered me and the other heroes."

"That? Forget it." Serena still did not know what she was supposed to do about Luke Moon ever since she discovered he fit the category her Hero System marked as an enemy. He was Eleanor's friend, and he had not done anything wrong... not yet, at least.

"You told us there was someone you knew who might become a special kind of enemy, but that person hadn't given you a reason to go after them. I remember the Earth Heroine got curious."

"That was just... a mistake on my part." Maxwell shifted in his chair.

"Your sword identified the lich as the enemy to be killed, didn't it? That's why it started glowing, right?"

"Yes. But why are we talking about this again?"

"Curiosity. So when the lich moved away, the sword stopped glowing automatically, didn't it?"

"Yes, Maxwell. That's how the damn thing works," she said.

"Then why are you lying, Serena?" She rose from the chair.

"Sorry. I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean your sword. Why are you hiding the fact that it's glowing and pretending your sensor isn't going off?"

"Well... that's a strange accusation, Maxwell."

"No, it isn't, Serena. Because if the sword reacted to the lich, and now it's glowing again, that means the person you want so badly to kill is only a few steps away from you. So why are you sitting here wasting half an hour complaining that he escaped?" Maxwell was smiling, but it was not a friendly smile. He was sharp, far sharper than people gave him credit for. He had let this whole conversation drag on just to corner her with that. Even so, she was still going to keep Luke Moon to herself.

"How do you know?"

"How do I know what?"

"How do you know my main sword is glowing when it's still in the sheath?" He smiled wider.

"Because I'm the Flame Hero, and in my thermal vision, your sword has been putting off scorching heat ever since we got to this camp. Which leads me to believe, Serena, that you're hiding something from me."

"I have nothing to say about it."

"Serena... you, of all people? I need to know if someone working for me is in danger. I'm not joking, Serena. Explain."

"Look..." And then suddenly Serena's migraine spiked. Maxwell drew his sword in an instant.

"What's happening, Serena? That thing is glowing red-hot to me." He was already pointing the blade in every direction. Serena drew her own sword and looked. The blade's glow was a blinding yellow. That could only mean one thing. Luke Moon. He's doing something dangerous. And she ran out of the tent. Fun fact: there's new artwork of Angie for this chapter over at that other place.